Platelets as Regulators of Inflammation in Cardiac Surgery

Plain-language summary

Platelets are increasingly recognized as a potent and ubiquitously present source of inflammatory activation. Importantly, antiplatelet therapy has been shown to significantly reduce major adverse events such as renal injury in cardiac surgery patients. However, in current practice, concerns of excessive bleeding-not platelet activation and thrombosis-shape clinical decisions. The investigators have recently seen, that a significant drop in platelet numbers following cardiac surgery is associated with increased mortality and risk of acute kidney injury. The investigators hypothesize that such thrombocytopenia is a result of excessive perioperative platelet activation and resultant release of inflammatory and tissue injurious signals by activated platelets. Platelet activation will be characterized during and after cardiac surgery and examine its correlation with inflammatory responses and perioperative end-organ injury.

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